CHAPTER FOUR

~JAXON/RONAN~

As soon as the door slammed in my face, I let my mask slip.

I straightened my spine too quickly, and the room tilted. Before I could lose my balance, a steady hand caught my arm.

Louis stepped out of the shadows, his expression already tight with restrained panic.

“Last night nearly gave me a heart attack,” He muttered. “You went into the apartment before I could trace you. I didn’t know whether protocol allowed me to intervene.”

It hadn’t. And he knew it.

The attack had been efficient and efficient. Whoever planned it knew my movements, my blind spots. I had underestimated them, and the injuries proved it.

But the real problem wasn’t the pain.

It was the certainty now settling into my bones.

Someone knew who I was.

And someone wanted what belonged to me.

“Did you follow my instructions?” I asked, tearing my gaze from the door.

Louis nodded. “We let them go. Surveillance is active. One of them entered Diamond Enterprise this morning.”

I lifted my chin slightly.

Predictable.

“Who did he meet?”

“Still unclear. But our people are embedded. We’ll know soon.”

I turned back toward the door, my thoughts already several steps ahead.

“Find everything you can on her,” I said. “She may be the leverage we’ve been missing.”

Louis stilled. “You think she’s… Little Star?”

He lowered his voice instinctively. The name carried weight, one buried deep in sealed files and erased records.

“I wasn’t certain,” I said quietly. “Until I saw the birthmark on her wrist”

A pause stretched between us.

If I was right, then I had been lucky to stumble upon her since she was the reason I came all the way here.

“Have someone follow her. Discreetly.”

Louis nodded once.

I slid into the car parked several houses down, far enough to avoid attention.

“Let’s go.”

●

The estate emerged from the darkness with understated authority.

No lights announcing itself. No excess. Just layers of security so seamlessly integrated they were almost invisible. Every system, digital, human, architectural, operated under protocols I had designed myself.

Louis gave a subtle signal and the gates opened immediately.

No one stared. No one needed to.

Very few people knew what I looked like and fewer still had reason to remember.

The staff understood expectations. They weren’t enforced through fear, but through consequence. Careers ended quietly here, Reputations dissolved and entire futures were erased with a signature for a rule broken.

This was the life I lived as Ronan Pierce, the reclusive, ruthless billionaire the media speculated endlessly about. No confirmed photographs. No public appearances. No mistakes.

Anonymity wasn’t a means to seem mysterious but a means of protection.

I stepped out of the car and shrugged off the shirt she had given me, handing it to my butler.

“Dispose of it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Inside, my nanny’s eyes widened briefly before she composed herself.

“I’ve prepared a bath,” she said gently.

I nodded and climbed the stairs, my footsteps echoing softly against marble. Steam curled around me as I lowered myself into the water, a low breath escaping before I could stop it.

The relief was immediate but fleeting.

Minutes later, dressed and composed, I entered the medical wing where Dr. John was already waiting. He examined the stitches with professional fascination.

“These are exceptional,” He said. “Clean work. Precise. Especially considering the materials.”

A memory surfaced uninvited.

Her face had been scrunched up in a focus gaze as she stitched up my injury with sweat on her forehead.

Her dark hair had clung onto her sweat, and it took everything in me not to reach out and push it out of her face.

“She’s talented,” I said absently.

Dr. John glanced at me, then simply nodded as he changed the stitches and bandaged my wounds properly.

After he finished and was escorted out, Louis remained.

“Any information?” I asked, adjusting my cuffs.

“There wasn’t much information on her, nor could I find any birth certificate of hers, but her real name is Isla. It’s almost like she spawned out of nowhere” He informed me, and we both knew what that meant.

It was definitely her. Only someone who wasn't meant to be found won’t have anything on them.

“But I was able to gather a little bit from my informant. She had been taken in by the Andersons and now works at Diamond Enterprise. She has a boyfriend, and it seemed she had signed her inheritance over to him” He told me, and a frown adorned my face.

If she really was Little star then she’s worth more than the Andersons.

“As long as she has the key, then her inheritance is none of our concern” I said to him, and he nodded.

Louis exhaled slowly. “What’s the plan?”

I studied my reflection.

The key was the final piece, proof enough to clear my mother’s name, dismantle the people who orchestrated her death, and reclaim what had been stolen.

I needed to catch the perpetrator behind my attack, and I needed to get that key. In order to do that, I needed to get close to her and have access to Diamond Enterprise.

“Where is she now?”

“She arrived at work ten minutes ago.”

“Good.” I turned to him. “You’ll oversee the company in my absence. Anything major goes through me.”

He frowned. “But the board…”

“The board has no say in how I run my company, Louis” I responded, and he pursed his lips.

“What is your plan?”

I met his gaze.

“Staying close to Isla.”

He scoffed. “She threw you out.”

A faint smile touched my lips.

“You know me, Louis.”

A pause.

“I always get what I want.”

He didn’t argue.

As I glanced down at my clothes, my expression tightened slightly. Even my worst outfit carried the quiet arrogance of money, tailored cuts, expensive fabric, and effortless polish.

It wouldn’t work.

“Get me something worn,” I said. “Something forgettable. Shoes included. Ten minutes.”

Louis stared. “You’re serious.”

“I’m about to step into a role,” I replied calmly. “And I need to look the part.”…